Inclusive Heritage Education via Active Learning

Veysel Apaydin is co-leading a project working on cultural heritage with children in Turkish primary schools, including migrants from the Syrian conflict. The project, a collaboration with PI Alan Greaves of the University of Liverpool, is funded by the BIAA (British International Schools/British Academy).

The project will develop, evaluate and disseminate socially-inclusive heritage education materials that can be used by schools, museums, charities and families to promote social inclusion between groups in Turkish society, including migrants from Syria. It will do this by applying the pedagogic theory of Active Learning to embed heritage education in free-to-use activity packs for primary-age children.

The project addresses the issues of contested meanings, barriers to inclusion and the difficulty of embedding heritage education in schools that often limit the effectiveness and reach of interventions aimed at raising public awareness of heritage. We hope to demonstrate that engaging adults in their children’s enjoyment of the activity packs will bring the generations from diverse communities together through shared experiences and a shared feeling of place.

The heritage education materials will be used by schools, museums, NGOs and families. They are designed to promote social inclusion between different groups in Turkish society, including migrants from the Syrian conflict. We will collate quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (interview) data from key stakeholders (c.20 teachers/ community volunteers) to assess whether educational games for primary-aged children (ages 6-13 in Turkey) from diverse communities give them the shared experiences and feeling of place necessary to build Community Cohesion